Monthly Archives: October 2013

Four years ago I had figured out I was gluten intolerant and had tried to avoid gluten. A recent routine endoscopy showed damaged celia and the biopsies confirmed I am a Celiac. The doctors were perplexed, the tissue samples confirmed Celiac, but my blood work was perfect. Four years of Gluten Free eating resulted in perfect blood work.

I had an appointment with a dietician. It was there I learned the dangers of being Celiac. She gave me a full folder of facts, details and information.

Celiac Disease is life-long. The celia never grow back but they do heal to the point they begin to processes nutrients. My tolerance is zero, so even cross contamination such as double dipping a knife in the peanut butter or jam to spread onto regular bread does cause me to react if I use a clean knife in the same peanut butter or jam jar to spread on a slice of GF bread. Each exposure takes a several days or weeks for the injures to the celia to heal enough to begin processing nutrients. During those days, I am freezing cold and exhausted.

Fresh Berries from the garden with real freshly whipped cream.*

One of the things in the folder of stuff is a list of all the names of foods that contain gluten. Many are simply different styles and types of wheat and different processes that end up gluten of a different name.

Beer is out, wine and distilled spirits even wheat based whiskeys are fine. The gluten molecules are too big to make it through the distillation process.

Wheat Free is not safe, Certified Gluten Free is. If in doubt do NOT eat it.

Butter Cream Frosted GF Banana Cake*

It goes on to say labels must be read every time foods are purchased. Manufacturers can change ingredients at any time. There is a huge list of additives that may or may not be GF. That list includes: modified food starch, starch, dextrin. If it does not say certified Gluten Free do not eat without calling the manufacturer to inquire about the root source of the starch. ie: Tapioca Starch and Corn Starch are safe, of course.

Eating Gluten Free as a way of losing weight, may be trendy. It won’t hurt you but it is not a disease and you can eat it anytime it is inconvenient to go hungry.

These two websites have tons of information. www.gluten.net which is a Gluten Intolerance organization in Auburn WA. Also www.celiac.org. Be wary of simple internet searches without verifying the source. The mayo clinic has info. Canada has a really good web site with lots of really good information.

Chocolate Studded Merengue Stacked with Whipped Cream*

Celiacs are supposed to carry a card in their wallet and even a health bracelet identifying Celiac. An emergency hospital stay, from a car accident for instance, complete with typical hospital fare of crackers and pudding could be the last nail in the coffin… fun, huh?

Gluten Free is healthy because it focuses on fresh fruit, vegetables, beans, lentils, fish and some lean meat. It is no more healthy than any other diet that includes sweets, cakes, pastas, sodas and other rich foods. I focus on healthy with great taste, but sometimes a special occasion calls for a special treat. Four of those are shown above.

* Learning to cook GF has been an adventure. Instead of trying to mimic the taste of “normal” food, we have learned to appreciate a new world of food we had not known. The bottom line is it has to taste great. It needs to be something guests will enjoy as well. Slowly I am developing special occasion recipes. Sometimes a great desert can be as simple as fresh berries topped with freshly whipped cream and a sprig of mint. Sometimes the occasion calls for something spectacular, even a multi layer cake. The deserts in the photos are my GF recipes and were served for special occasions. The merengue is naturally GF and without the chocolate and the whipped cream it is not too unhealthy.

Like this:

It has been an interesting year. Beginning in January of 2013 my web host upgraded their platform. Suddenly I had no email address and my website disappeared. It was one of those things I only discovered much later when I realized I couldn’t possibly have offended everyone. Unbeknownst to us, life was about to come barreling at us, dropping bombs and chocolates along the way.

Staying on Track

In short the big hurdles (scares) were taken care of, nursed back to health, the garden was planted too late and yielded mini, not large, and very scarce delicious veggies (not enough).

We faced down Sweet Hubs being diagnosed with cancer, it being a long recovery, but he is now free of cancer. I learned to live with celiac disease.

The sun began to shine, we began to heal, we spent lots of time with our fab family and added a new son-in-law. You really appreciate everything more when you have survived the bumps along the way.

Three weeks ago I bravely waded into untangling missing accounts. As you can see, it all got sorted out.

I missed you and hope you all had a really great spring and summer and avoided having to dodge the bumps and hurdles life sometimes throws your way.